Friday, October 26, 2012

Fall Follies

Autumn is one of my four favourite seasons. What's not to love? Sweaters, hot tea, good books, fresh baking, fall colours, my birthday. These things all make me happy. Along with many reasons to smile, this autumn arrived with its share of challenges...

Dave and I returned from Italy with a parasitic souvenir (dientamoeba fragilis) that totally wiped us out for about three weeks. (Food Safe 101: Wash your hands people! It doesn't take long and soap is cheap.) During this time, we moved into a new house. During the move, a desk collapsed on my foot. But wait, that's not all.

Then, on one of my first long runs post-parasite etc., I caught a toe on the only rock for miles, went airborne and landed smack dab on my left knee cap. After screaming bloody murder for several minutes and lying like a gimp on the trail afraid to move because I was certain my knee cap was shattered, I limp-shuffled back to the car. Boo!

But that's all in the past. I have had two blissfully dull and uneventful two weeks in which I have caused no further damage to my body and actually done some decent training (albeit with a still sore foot and knee). And that's important because The North Face Endurance Challenge in San Francisco is just a few weeks away and I need to get back into race shape. (Click here to read my 2011 TNF EC race report.)

My goal for the next month is to stay healthy and be nice to my body i.e. no klutzy Cleveland. If I can manage that, then I should have a good race. And even if the race doesn't go well, it's still way better than being sick and injured.